In horticulture and agriculture, a cutting is a form of plant propagation in which a plant's stem is prodded to root. Generally this is done by sticking a stem of the plant in dirt or another medium. Sometimes the plant will naturally root but often enzymes such as ABA are dusted on the base of the stem to promote rooting. Cuttings may be made from new growth, or from older wood, and sometimes even from roots or individual leaves.

Cuttings are often used in place of propagation via seed because unlike plants propagated by seed, plants from cuttings have the exapt same genotype as the parent plant, and desirable cultivars can be retained. This can be a good thing for horticulture, when everyone wants their flowers to look the same, but is bad in attempting to restore a natural system because it reduces genetic diversity. Other times, cuttings are used simply because they reach maturity faster than seedlings.

A form of body art, where (shallow) cuts are made in the skin, usually but
not always leaving a visible scar. Decorative and ritual cuttings are
made using sterile conditions, usually using surgical scalpels (very few
knives are either sharp enough to do this or easy to properly sterilize.

Pigments (usually tattoo ink or ash) are sometimes added to a cutting to
provide permanent color, the cutter may also apply and ignite alcohol
fire-play to the fresh cutting to induce irritation and enhance
visible scarring.

The (intentional) scars left by a decorative or ritual cutting are difficult
to predict. Because it can be impossible to guarantee the degree of
permanent marking (or indeed that there will be any permanent marking),
cuttings are not recommended to people who cannot deal with a degree of
uncertainty. Particularly keloid scars are usually formed by cuttings
on people with dark skin. People of asian and african descent often
form keloid scars.

learning to practice cutting is a substantial endeavour in part because
there are very few practitioners in the leathersex (BDSM) community.

Self-injurious behavior SIB is different from the practice of ritual or
decorative cuttings.

The act or process of making an incision, or of severing, felling, shaping, etc.

2.

Something cut, cut off, or cut out, as a twig or ion cut off from a stoock for the purpose of grafting or of rooting as an independent plant; something cut out of a newspaper; an excavation cut through a hill or elsewhere to make a way for a railroad, canal, etc.; a cut.